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Republicans running for Senate all agree on one thing. None of them have come out in support of Mitch McConnell being the Senate Majority Leader following the next election according to a report by The Hill.
It’s a collision of the Bannon Effect and the Cruz Gambit. Breitbart chief and former White House adviser Steve Bannon has waged open war against McConnell, vowing to eliminate as many of his Senate supporters as possible through primary elections except for one: Ted Cruz. Why does Cruz get a pass? While there may be an understanding between the men, it probably wasn’t necessary. Cruz came out in 2015 while running for the GOP nomination for President as being opposed to McConnell, even calling him out for lies he told about funding the Ex-Im bank.
At the time, no Senator supported Cruz’s action (which I’ve affectionately named the “Cruz Gambit”), not even his friend Senator Mike Lee. Cruz was isolated and often ridiculed by fellow Senators for the action. Today, the same action may not be met with such scorn from his colleagues as McConnell’s impotence is making itself crystal clear. There have been no significant victories in the Senate since President Trump took office with very notable losses racking up on the Obamacare repeal front.
McConnell retains his position because of one thing: access to major RNC donors. Between his friendly super PACs and direct contributions made to the party and those he supports, he’s been able to accumulate a strong donor base. We saw his financial clout in full force in the Alabama primary as his forces united in favor of Luther Strange against Roy Moore. Meanwhile, Bannon supported Moore who raised far less money than Strange. Despite also getting the President’s endorsement, Strange still lost, casting doubt on whether McConnell’s strength in sculpting the makeup of the Senate was still viable.
My Take
On one hand, I’m very pleased by all of this. I’ve been opposed to McConnell since before it was cool and would love to see a limited-government-minded Senator (of which there are only a few) take over leadership. On the other hand, I’m as worried about Bannon rising in prominence as I am about McConnell keeping his. This “war” Bannon is waging against McConnell smells much more like a power play for his own self-aggrandizement than a righteous move to help the nation. Despite being out of the White House, his influence over the President and worship of the alt-right components of his agenda are still strong.
There’s another factor to consider. Who would replace McConnell if he’s ousted? Would it be Cruz or Lee? Rand Paul? Ben Sasse? Tim Scott? No. None of the handful of conservatives in the Senate have any chance of being Senate Majority Leader. We’d end up with Lindsay Graham, John Cornyn, or another “RINO” who may be even worse. McConnell has been ineffective, but he hasn’t done a ton of damage to the nation outside of passing outrageous budgets. His sins are more about inaction than dangerous actions and his replacement may be inclined to do actual harm.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t strive for better, but I’m inclined to push for Federalists joining the Senate rather than trying to find a Republican or Democrat to offer solutions.
Further Reading
GOP Senate hopefuls reluctant to back McConnell as leader | TheHill
Several candidates declared their opposition to McConnell and attacked their GOP primary opponents for not taking a stance on the question. Other candidates deflected, or spoke on background about the bind they’re in over the question of McConnell’s leadership. Most candidates were eager to avoid the question entirely, and ignored multiple requests for comment.
Final Thoughts
As badly as the Senate needs someone other than McConnell leading the way, Bannon’s moves seem bent on destruction rather than solutions. He’s promoting chaos and could end up putting an even worse Senate Majority Leader in power: Chuck Schumer.
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100% correct. Mitch is almost 80 anyway. I don’t like him but I definitely don’t want to see Bannon rise.
I agree with Ellie. Good post.
While Schumer might be worse than McConnell (not a guarantee), it would be illuminating to see whether Trump goes full-Democrat and hard-left-liberal in order to push Schumer-inspired “deals” just to say he got something done. It would also be illuminating to see the reaction of Trumps’ base to any such event.
Here’s hoping we can find Federalists to fill out a complete slate in 2018 (2020 at the latest) – preferably both as we need to build up a Federalist presence in the Senate to compliment the HFC.
As a conservative/federalist I am pleased to see someone lead the fight against the establishment/RINOS/globalists. Bannon is a long time friend of Trump, has money and influence, so I am thankful for his “war” on the above con men. We will never get congress to pass term limits so we will just have to keep replacing the con men each election cycle until we have a large enough majority to start turing the country back to its constitutional roots. I’m thinking Steve Bannon may just be the right man for the job!